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CIRCULAR No

CIRCULAR No. 7-TM/XNK ON THE 15TH OF MARCH, 1995 GUIDING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE COMMODITIES POLICY AND DIRECTING THE IMPORT-EXPORT OPERATIONS IN 1995

On the 10th of December 1994, the Prime Minister already issued Decision No. 752-TTg and other regulatory documents providing for the commodities policy and the mechanism for directing the import and export operations in 1995. In execution of this decision, the ministry of trade has issued a number of documents to guide its implementation aimed at meeting in time the activities of the enterprises, and also to create the legal basis for the management of business right at the beginning of 1995.

Now, the Ministry of Trade issues this Circular to provide guidance concerning all the issues related to the implementation of the commodities policy and the direction of the import and export operations in 1995, including the guidance documents issued by the Ministry since the 10th of December 1994 as well as those issued before that date which remain consistent with Decision No.752-TTg, aimed at implementing Decision No.752-TTg of the Prime Minister:

I. ON THE MANAGEMENT OF IMPORT-EXPORT COMMODITIES ACCORDING TO THE LISTS OF GOODS:

1. Lists of goods banned from export and import: this is to be implemented according to Decision No. 96-TM/XNK on the 14th of February, 1995, and Official Dispatch No .3229-TM/XNK on the 14th of March 1995 of the Minister of Trade.

2. Export goods controlled by quotas : in 1995, control by quotas shall apply to only one item, which is textiles and garment exported under the agreement Vietnam has signed with the EU, Canada and Norway. The management mechanism shall comply with the Inter-ministerial Communique No.14-TB/LB on the 15th of November 1994of the Ministry of Trade and the Ministry of Light Industry.

The export of textiles and garment to other markets (outside the EU, Canada and Norway) is encouraged and needs no quotas.

3. Export and import goods controlled by directional plans: compared with 1994, in 1995 export items shall decrease from 3 to 1 which is rice; import items shall decrease from 15 to 7, namely petrol, steel, cement, fertilizer, sugar, motorvehicles of less than 12 seats, and motorbikes.

The exportation of one item, and the importation of seven items under the directional plans, shall be implemented according to the following documents:

3.1. The exportation of rice shall comply with Inter-ministerial Circular No.2-TTLB/NN-TM on the 6th of February, 1995 of the Ministry of Trade and the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry.

3.2. The importation of petrol (excluding lubricant) shall comply with the Document No.16007-TM/KH on the 30th of December, 1994 of the ministry of trade.

3.3. Common steel: Document No.603-UB/TMDV on the 28th of February 1995 of the State Planning Committee, and Document No.452-KH on the 8th of March 1995 of the Ministry of Heavy Industry. The Ministry of Trade shall entrust the Vietnam Steel Corporation under the Ministry of Heavy Industry to import 70% of the total quota. The importation of the remaining 30% shall be assigned to 18 import enterprises.

3.4. The importation of cement shall comply with Inter-ministerial Document No.1971-LB/TM-XD on the 28th of February 1995 of the Ministry of Trade and the Ministry of Construction.

3.5. The importation of fertilizer shall comply with Inter-ministerial Circular No.4-TTLB/NN-TM on the 10th of February 1995 of the Ministry of Trade and the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry.

3.6. Sugar: the importation of all crude sugar shall be assigned to the sugar refineries. The importation of all granular sugar shall be assigned to central and local enterprises in order to ensure the sugar need of the market in each region.

3.7. The importation of motorvehicles of less than 12 seats shall comply with Document No. 2404-TM/XNK on the 28th of February 1995 of the Ministry of Trade.

3.8. The importation of motorbikes shall comply with Document No. 2532-TM/XNK on the 1st of March 1995 of the Ministry of Trade. The importation of CKD parts of motorbikes shall comply with the Document No .2403-TM/XNK on the 28th of February 1995 of the Ministry of Trade.

As directed by the Prime Minister in Decision No. 752-TTg on the 10th of December 1995 and, Documents No. 294-KTTH on the 19th of January 1995 and No. 666-KTTH on the 14th of February 1995, the Ministry of Trade has, in conjunction with the concerned ministries, assigned all the quantities of the above items right from the beginning of the year, so that the enterprises may have the initiative of business throughout the year.

4. Goods exported and imported under the guidance of specialized managerial agencies: in 1995, the groups of commodities and the managerial agencies shall be retained as in 1994.

The enterprises engaged in the export and import of these commodities shall have to send the lists of commodities to the specialized management agencies in order to be approved in writing.

The Ministry of Trade shall continue to work with the specialized management agencies, to define clearly those commodities in the 11 groups which need the agreement of the specialized management agencies.

5. Some other commodities:

5.1. The exportation of wooden products in 1995 will continue to comply with Decision No.624-TTg on the 29th of December 1993 of the Prime Minister and the guiding Document No. 595-KH/XNK on the 24th of March 1994 of the Ministry of Forestry.

5.2. The exportation of coffee shall comply with Communique No. 16076-TM/XNK on the 31st of December 1994 of the Ministry of Trade.

5.3. The importation of substitutes for breast milk shall comply with the Inter-ministerial Circular No. 18-TT/LB on the 3rd of November 1994 of the Ministries of Health, Trade, Culture and Information, and the Vietnam Committee for Child Protection and Care.

II. ON THE MANAGEMENT OF THE IMPORTATION OF CONSUMER GOODS:

Acting under the direction of the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Trade shall take the responsibility for keeping the importation of consumer goods not in excess of 20% of the total export value in 1995.

The imported consumer goods as mentioned in this Circular are understood to be commodities directly and effectively meeting the needs of daily life, in the domains of food, beverage, clothing, transportation, studies, entertainment, recreation, and other capital activities. They do not include raw materials, materials and components imported to produce consumer goods and other goods to meet the needs of work and medical treatment. The enterprises must proceed from the viewpoint of protecting domestic production and make effective use of foreign exchange, and shall refrain from importing the commodities which are not capital, or which are already sufficiently produced in the country.

In order to ensure that the total value of imported consumer goods shall not exceed 20% of the total value of exports, and to ensure equity among the enterprises having different circumstances and conditions, the importation of consumer goods is defined as follows:

a- Only the import-export enterprises authorized to import appropriate commodities (listed in the import-export business permits) shall take part in the importation of consumer goods.

b- The enterprises specialized in the exportation and importation of major commodities of great value and high profits and belonging to specialized categories such as rice, coal, crude oil and petrol, shall concentrate their business on these lines, and shall not take part in the importation of consumer goods.

From now on the enterprises importing consumer goods shall no longer have to ask the Ministry of Trade the authorization to import each consignment, but shall submit their import plans to the Ministry of Trade twice in a year, in May and October. The enterprise shall import only after the Ministry of Trade has ratified the import plan. The procedure for the importation of consumer goods: the current regulations shall continue to apply pending a new regulation on the abolition of authorization permits of consignment import (second drive).

III. ON THE MANAGEMENT OF THE IMPORTATION OF USED GOODS:

1. The Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment is assigned by the Government to issue the regulation on the importation of used equipment.

Pending the formulation by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment of the norms for the importation of used equipment (production chains, machinery, equipment, transport means, vehicles and machines in service of construction of buildings, bridges and roads...), the following temporary regulations shall apply:

The enterprises, which want to import the above-mentioned commodities, shall have:

To take responsibility for the effectiveness of the imported goods.

To be issued with import and export business permits for the appropriate goods.

To have the written approval of the controlling agency of ministerial level (for the centrally managed enterprises), or the provincial People's Committee (for local enterprises, and non-State enterprises located in the province).

After gathering all these conditions, the enterprises shall fill the procedure for import at the Permit Bureau of the Ministry of Trade, and do not have to go to the Ministry of Trade.

The importation of used complete equipment and used single equipment priced from 100,000 USD and upward per unit, shall have to go through the quality expertise by the general standard and measurement department, as defined in Regulation No.171-TDC/THKH on the 6th of May 1994 of the General Standard and Measurement Department, before filling the import procedures at the customs service.

2. The importation of complete equipment and single equipment with State budget fund shall comply with Decision No.91-TTg on the 13th of November 1992 of the Prime Minister, and guiding Circular No.04-TM/DT on the 30th of July 1993 of the Ministry of Trade.

IV. REFORM OF ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURE IN THE MANAGEMENT OF IMPORT AND EXPORT:

The Ministry of Trade shall carry out a reform of the administrative procedures, first of all by abolishing the permits for consignment import. The first drive of this abolition has been effective since the 1st of July 1994. Now the second drive of this abolition will continue. This will be stipulated concretely in a separate circular.

V. IMPLEMENTATION:

The Ministry of Trade proposes that the Ministries, the ministerial-level Agencies, the Agencies attached to the Government, the People's Committees of the provinces and cities directly under the Central Government, the central offices of the mass organizations inform the enterprises under their jurisdiction in order to carry out this Circular.

This Circular takes effect on the 1st of April, 1995 and replaces the Circulars No. 04-TM/XNK on the 4th of April 1994 and No. 06-TM/XNK on the 16th of May 1994 and the documents amending Circular No. 06-TM/XNK of the Ministry of Trade.

Minister of Trade

LE VAN TRIET